5-year-old boy who was riddled with cancer ‘from his nose to his knees’ gets all clear – let’s hear it for him

Though scientific breakthroughs and advances in medicine are occurring more rapidly than ever before, cancer remains a deadly foe.

The disease, which claims many lives the world over each day, has become something of a bane for our species. Most people live in fear of the day they will be told they have it, or, perhaps worse, that someone they love will be.

Which is why parents Alice Phillips and Ricky Wetherley were devastated when they were informed their son Freddy had neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer that only affects 100 children in the UK annually.

Worse, doctors told Alice and Ricky that the cancer had spread throughout his body, from his “nose to his knees”. His odds were bleak indeed.

Today, however, he’s finally in remission, and is about to start school

Freddy’s diagnoses came after he began complaining of pain in his legs. A healthy boy, his parents initially believed he was simply suffering from a sickness bug. When he said he didn’t want to go on fairground rides because his legs hurt so much, however, Alice and Ricky knew they had to take him to the doctors.

A scan was done at the hospital, one that discovered Freddy had a massive tumor in his stomach. He was transferred to Great Ormond Street hospital, where he was officially diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

“When they told us what Freddy had it was devastating. We couldn’t believe it,” Alice said.

Freddy immediately started a 70-day cycle of chemotherapy. Then, at Christmas, he underwent a stem-cell transplant. In February of this year, he had surgery to remove the tumor altogether.